Loader



Oct. 26 1926. 1,604,346

L. S. HARBER LOADER Filed July 5, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Awww/c5 S /v//ifc @ER ATTORNEY oct. 26 1926. 1,604,348

1 L.. S. HARBER LOADER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 3, 1925 INVENTOR` ATTORNEY Oct. 26 1926.

L. S. HARBER LOADER Filed July s, 1925 .3 Sheets-sheet 5 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 26, 1926.

y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAURENCE S. HABBER, OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, ASSI-GHOR TO BAKER-PERKINS i PANY, INCORPORATED, OF WHITE PLAINS., NEW YORK.

coit- LOADER.

Application led July 3,

This invention relates to improvements in a'forin of apparatus generally termed loaders adapted for the automatic charging of ovens, leers,.or the like, with articles to be treated therein. The inventioncom- )rises means for moving articles to be treated by means of4 a reciprocating device from a platform'onto a moving conveyor or similar contrivance, by means of which the articles w are carried into and through an oven.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which is so constructed that all danger of damage to the articles be ing carried into the oven is avoided, and l5 whereby the crushing or otherwise damaging the articles, as frequently takes place in other forms of loaders through encountering other obstacles during the forward passage, or through blocking during the passage, is Wholly prevented:

lVi-th this and other objects in view, `the invention comprises various features hereinafter more fully described and particularly defined in the claims. Y

My invention is particularly adapted to be applied to baking ovens in which articlesy to be baked are passed on an endless conveyor through the oven. ln order to charge the article onto the conveyor to be passed through the oven, l provide a device for lpushing' or moving the articles froml a stationary support, or charging plate, by means of which the articles may be suitably moved onto or positioned on, themoving platform or endless conveyor at predetermined or desired intervals. l preferably providea device, termed a pusher bar, adapted to be i'eciprccated and Which is mounted on suitable guides or guide members raising the 40 same slightly above the charging plate. 'lhese guides consist preferably of Wheels mounted at the ends of the pusher bar and running on stationary tracks supported at the sides 4of the charging plate or mounted in any other suitable manner. By thismeans the pusher bar durin its movement is guided Y along and slightly a ove the charging plate, and the resistance of the pusher bar itself to its movement is minimized.

In order to reciprocate the pusher' bar, I preferably employ suitable arms or link 4rods connected to the pusher bar in proximi ity to the wheelsupon 'vvhich the bar is mounted, the arms being in turn attached to if levers, or other operating means, to which 19%5. Serial No. 41,268.

the arms are preferably pivotally'connected. The levers for operating the -arms are in turn connected to suitable operating means, being preferably keyed to a shaft Which is rotatably mounted in stationary bearings, and operated or actuated i'n any suitable lWay to attain controlledmovement of the evers.

The form of moving device or pusherv are preferably of such a length that when the levers are reciprocated, the ends of the levers connected to the arms Will describe or traverse an-arc vwhich is suiiiciently iat so that the' movement of the ends of the levers in a vertical plane is slight,y and therefore will not interfere with the operation of the link rods and pusher bar. The link rods or arms connected to the levers and to the pusher bar are preferably of such a form, or. are constructe ,u of such a length that the front surface of the pusherA bar, which is forced against the articles, retains, during its travel, substantially the same inclination with respect to the c-harving platform or surface on which the articles are supported.

In order to operate the shaft to which the levers connected to the .link arms are attached, and therebyto operate the pusher rod connected to the arms, a separate short lever is preferably employed, which may be keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft. The movement of the separate lever is preferably controlled by an arm which is preferably pivotally connected to the short lever at one end and is operably connected to Vla cam at theother'end which serves to transmit motion to the short lever. The movemeans of a roller carried by ,the arm and adaipted to move over the periphery or outer I .ment of the arm is preferably attained by l lll) extended to its maximum, and the roller on the surface of the cam is at the -greatest' the movement of the lever corresponding to the withdrawal of the link arms out of the charging chamber is made positive in its action, whereas a yieldable movement in the reverse direction in which the articles to be treated are moved forward, is attained.'l the movement being subject to or dependent on the yieldable resilient or spring means. It is apparent therefore, that if any of the articles should become misplaced on the charging plate` causing a blocking of the feed mechanism, or if any foreign obstacle should come in the path of the pusher rod, the forward movement of the pusher rod would be arrested, whereb the possibility of breakage of the appara us or damage to the articles is avoided.

The periphery or outer surface of the cam is of such a shape, and the cam is so arranged with respect to the other parts of the apparatus, that when the cam is rotated so as to move the levers and the4 pusher bar to their initial position or, in other words, to the position assumed before the articles are moved forward on lthe charging plate, the resilient or spring means is distance from thecam center, or 'axis of rotation. When the cam is turned from this initial position the resilient means is released to a greater or less extent depending upon the position of the wheel with respect to the axis or center of rotation of the cam, and in retracting, the resilient force of the spring means drives the pusher bar forward together with the articles on the charging plate which are moved forward into the charging chamber and onto the endless conveyor or conveyor platform.

It will be apparent from the above description that if, during the forward movement of the articles, an obstacle were encountered on the charging plate, or if a' blocking of the articles should take pl'ace on the charging platform which the resilient force of the spring member could not over- A come, the pusher bar would be arrested in its movement, and the wheel on the periphery of the cam would move away from the cam surface, until in the furtherv movement of the cam, a part of the circumference of the cam would be reached where the wheel would again contact with the cam surface and the pusher rod would be moved back into its initial position. It will also be apparent that'bylemploying a resilient means, or spring means, of suitable strength, depending upon `the power necessary to overcome the normal resistance of the articles to be moved, the articles will be regularly fed onto the conveyor belt passing intothe oven, without danger of accidentor damage to the articles, or to the operating mechanism.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, showing'the preferred embodiment of my invention applied to the'charging of continuous bake ovens or conveyor ovens for baking bread orI the like, 'in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a loaderfor charging vmeans for 4an oven, embodying my invention and showing the pusher bar or actuating means in its initial position, or position in which articles to` be fed to the endless conveyor are placed on the chargf ing platform in front of the pusher bar or actuating lmeans Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the loader partly in section, showing the pusher bar in the position in which articles are moved onto the conveyor plates or endless conveyor; and

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of the loader in the position shown in Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates an oven or furnace, a portion only of which i's shown, and the numeral 12 indicates a charging chamber, which is shown (in front of the oven. The charging chamber 12 is shown communicating with the oven 10 through an inlet or opening. 14, through .which a conveyor belt or endless conveyor 16 passes v from the chamber to the oven.

The charging chamber is preferably of less width than the oven so as to leave room. at the side of the charging chamber and in front of the portion of the front wall of the oven which is not covered by the charging chamber, for a mechanism for operating the loader. The operating mechanism. is 'preferably attached to the floor of the room in which the oven and charging chamber are located, and to the side wall 20 of the charging chamber and the exposed portion 22 of the front wall of the oven or furnace.

In order to feed or move articles at regular intervals or at predetermined periods onto the portion of the conveyor 16 passing into the oven 10, a vplatform or plate 24 is located in an opening4 26 in the front Wall of the charging chamber which is positioned thereinY at any suitable height. The

platform 24 may be attached in place in any desired. manner, preferably by means of a bracket 28 .attached tothe front wall of the charging chamber, `and one or more brackets 30 at the inside of the charging chamber.

The articles to be fed onto the conveyor, such as bread pans 82, containing dough to be baked, are placed on the forward side of the platform 24:, in front of the ,forward wall 34 of the charging chamber, and are forced by'means of a pusher'rod 36 or its equivalent along the charging plate into the desired vposition upon the endless conveyor.

The endless conveyor 16 may be of any suit-` able form and may be operated in any -desired manner. The specific form of the conveyor and the means by which the conveyor belt is actuated" are not shown since they do not constitute a part of the present invention. \The inlet 26 to the charging chamber 12, through which the pusher rod 36 passes in its movement from the external portion of the'charging plate to within the charging chamber, is slightly wider than the pusher rod and may be made any desired height, depending upon the height of the articles to be charged into the oven,'and

' the height of the arms or parts directlycon- Vnected to the pusher rod;

rllhe pusher rod 36 is preferably provided at its forward or charging side with a plate 38 against which the bread pans or other articles to be moved are adapted to frest. At

the ends of the pusher bar are mounted wheels 40 whichl are preferably carried by means of pins 42 on which the wheels are adapted to rotate. The wheels 40 are shown 1s mounted on tracks 44 which arepreferably supported at the si-des of the charging plate 24 by means of brackets 46 or other suitable means connected to the framework of the charging chamber. Connected to the pusher rod preferably near its ends are two upwardly curved arms or link rods 48 which are preferably rigidly attached to the pusher rod. The outer ends of the arms orlink rods'48 are connected to suitable operating der to prevent sidewise motion of the shaft-` 54 and the levers 50 connected thereto, a collar is provided at the further end of the bearing 56l and a hub 62 carrying an operating lever 64 is attached to the shaft 54 at the further side of bearing 58, the hub 62 being keyed or otherwise suitably connected to the shaft 54. rllhe lever 64, which serves through the shaft 54 and the parts connected thereto, to operate the pusher rod 36,is preferably provided with a forked end 66 in which are openings through which a hinge bolt 68 passes.l Attached to the bolt 68, preferably between the branches of the fork 66 is a link rod 70 by means of which the lever 64 is actuated, and at the sides of the branches 'of the fork 66, supported on the bolt 68, are

the arms of a swivel hook 72 to which a spring or other resilient means 74 is connected whereby the lever 6 4 is resiliently held in the position with a force .determined by the relative position of the lever 70.

lin order to operate the lever 64 throng the link rod or arm 70, a wheel or roller 76 is mounted at oneend of the arm 70, being mounted thereon by means of a'hinge bolt 78 or other equivalent means. Connected also to the hinge bolt 78 is a stay rod 84, which'is connected at its other end-to a suitable support such as a shaft 86, to which it is pivotally connected, thereby serving to limit the movement of the roller A'76 and the arm 70. v

In orderto produce the desired movement of. the pusher rod at the required intervals a cam 80 is rovided which is revolubly mounted on a s aft 88 in a plane with the roller 76, whereby the roller will be moved over the peripheral surface of the cam, thereby producing a movement of the rod 70 depending upon the configuration of the cam, the movement of the rod 70 bein transmitted, as has heretofore been descri ed, to the pusher rod.

The movement or rotation of the cam 80l the gears are connected. The system of gears illustrated in the drawing comprises a gear wheel 90 which is rotatably mounted on the shaft 88 and is either rigidly affixed or made of'one piece with the cam 80, also loosely mounted, as said before, on the same shaft. rllhe gear 90 is driven by a. small gear wheel/ 92 fixed on the shaft 86. The gear wheel 92 is preferably made integral with the gear 94 and meshes with a smaller gear wheel 96 fixed on the shaft 88, which is preferably made integral with the driving wheel or gear 98 connected to the source of power. In order to hold the gears. in place on the shaft 86 a collar 100 is fixed thereon. and similarly to hold the driving wheel and gears in place on the shaft 88, a collar 102 is mounted at t-he end of the shaft. The shafts 82 and86 are preferably mounted in bearings Nin a` bracket member 104 which is pref'- erably mounted on the side wall 20 of the charging chamber..

The resilient spring ,7 4 is preferably mou/nted at one end on a bracket 106 suitably 'attached to a portion of the wall 22 of the oven 10, the other end of the spring being attached to thepin 68 by means of a swivel hook `108 having arms 7221s heretofore described. j'lhe swivel hook has connected thereto ascrew rod 110 which is provided With a nut 112 adapted to turn thereon and.

to hold one end of the .spring member 74 whereby the tension of the spring may be adjusted or regulated as desired. The spring member .isheld in position through nut ,112 by means of a sleeve 114 'which isslidably mounted on the rod 110 in front of the nut, t-he sleeve having arms .or hooks 116y adapted to hold the end of the spring 74"I Y v s0 as to maintain 'thespring in tension during luf the operation of the apparatus. The other end of the spring may be attached in a similar manner to the bracket 106 by means of the arms or claws 118 of a holding member 120 which is preferably pivotally connected to the bracket 106 by means of a pin 122.

The operation of the charging mechanism or loader is as follows: The driving wheel 98 is driven from any suitable source of power, thus transmitting motion through the gears 96, 94, 92, 90 to the cam 80 which is thereby rotated at the desired rate. The rotation of the cam serves to transmit motion to the link or arm 70 through the roller 76 which is adapted' to run on the peripheral surface of the cam and is held in contact with the surface by means of the resilient force of the-spring 7 4v which is held in tension throughout the movement of the mechanism. The movement of the arm 70 transmits a corresponding motion to thelever 64 which in turn transmits a reciprocatory motion to the Shaft 54 to which the levers-50 are connected, which are thereby moved forward and backward in accordance with the movement of the roller 76 away from and toward the center of rotation or axis 88 oi the cam member 80. Through the movement of the levers or arms 50 the link arms 48 are reciprocated, whereby the pusher rod 36 is moved forward and back along the charging plate 24. During the movement of the cam 80 when the roller 76 is furthest away from the shaft 88 or center of rotation of the cam, the pusher rod 36 is in its retracted position shown in Fi re l of the drawings, which is maintaine through substantially half the revolution of the cam 80. While in this position the articles to be fed to the endless conveyor 16 are placed upon the charging plate 24, Whereb when the cam 80, which rotates in a cloc ilse direction, reaches the point at which the peripheral surface approaches the shaft 88, the roller 76 moves along the surface and the arm is thereby moved to the right in Fig-` ure 1 with a. force depending on the tension of the spring member 74. The forward .movement of the pusher bar corresponds to about a quarter of a revolution of the cam, in which portion of the revolution the roller 76 moves along the peripheral surface from the portion of maximum distance from the axisof rotation of the cam to the minimum distance from the said axis, and during this portion -of the movement the roller is held on the peripheral surface of the cam with a force dependent on the strength and adjustment of the spring member 74. The articles which are moved along the char ing plate 24 by means of the usher bar are orced forward ,by means o a yielding force or, in other words, by means of a predetermined maximum force dependent upon the spring adjustment. It is apparent, therefore, that in case of blocking of the articlesror in the case of an obstacle being placed inthe path of the articles to be moved onto the vendless conveyor the pushing force or force movin the artic es along the charging plate woul not exceed the force exerted by the spring in the corresponding position, whereby any danger 4of damage to the articles is prevented. After the articles have been moved onto the endless conveyor at which point the pusher rod 36 lhas attained the position shown in Figure 2, the roller 76 is at the point on the peri heral surface of the cam nearest to the axis of rotation and in the further rotation of the cam the roller V76 is forced outward by the peripheral surface of the cam which recedes from the center of rotation to the point of maximum distance therefrom, corresponding to approximately a quarter of a revolution of the cam, whereby the roller is again brought to the portion of maximum distance from the axis of rotation and the pusher bar 36 is correspondingly retracted or withdrawn to its initial position shown in Figure 1.

By controlling the speed of the driving means attached to the gear 98er by suitably choosing the gear ratios employed in the connecting gears to drive the cam member 80 anyfdesired period of operation of the pusher bar may be attained, Furthermore, by employing a suitable shape of cam the relative time of forward and return movement of the pusher bar during each single cycle of operation may be controlled. It is to be understood that various changes or modifications'may be made in the apparatus as will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new is- 1. In a device of the class described, a baking oven, a charging chamber connected to said oven, an endless conveyor passing throu h said oven and extending into the Said c arging chamber, means for operating the said endless conveyor so as to cause movement thereof to carry articles from said charging chamber into said oven, a stationary supportv extending into said chargin chamber upon which articles to be passe into said oven may be placed, and yieldable automatically operating means for moving articles on said support into said charging chamber and onto the said conveyor at predetermined intervals.

2. In a device of the class described, a bakin oven, a charging chamber connected to sai oven, an endless conveyor adapted to carry articles from said charging chamber into said oven, a charging plate positioned partly within and partly outside of saidchargin` chamber, said plate being adapted toy ho d articles to be passed onto said conveyor,

lll() a pusher bar, supporting means for said bar adapted to guide the movements thereof along said charging plate, means for moving the said bar forward over the said plate to move said articles forward with a predetermined maximum force to prevent damage thereto, means for positively returning the said pusher bar to its initial position, means for regulating the period of operation of the said pusher bar, and means for controlling the relative time of forward and return movement of the said bar.

3. in a device of the class described, a baking oven, a charging chamber, an endless conveyor adapted to carry articles from said charging chamber into said oven, plate located partly Within the ing chamber, said plate being adapted to hold articles to be passed to said endless conveyor, a pusher bar, means for mounting the said pusher bar over the said late comprising Wheels mounted on the sai bar, and

a charging said chargtracks for supporting the said wheels, whereby the said usher bar is guided in its move ment over t e said late, link rods connected to the said pusher har, a lever connected to the said link rods to move the said bar over said plate, operating means connected to the said lever comprising@ cam, a Wheel adapted to move over the surface of said cam, connecting means between the said Wheel and said lever to transmit forward and return movement to the said ever, resilient means for retaining the sa` Wheel in contact with the peripheral surface of the said cam and to force the said pusher rod forwardly over the said plate with a predetermined maximum force whereby in case of blocking or other contingency the forward movement of the articles Will be arrested and prevent damage to the articles.

Signed at Saginaw Michigan this 25th day of June 1925.

LAURENCE S. HARBER. 

